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Telstra Corp. (ASE:TLS) in a Time of Change


Sunday, March 14th, 2010

Telstra Corp. is the largest telecommunications company in Australia, and run by Chief Executive Officer David Thodey. In a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal, Thodey talked about the challenges he faces as the legacy business of the company continues to decline and the wireless business surges.

The legacy business is talking about landlines of course, and there is no doubt that will disappear in the not too distant future.

When asked about the faltering landline business, Thodey stated you can't be dependent upon it as it isn't the future of the business, even though it is paying the bills now. If he and the company were to be overly focused on that part of the business it would keep them off the innovative side of the business, which is their future. The company must be focused on the changes in the market if it wants to thrive in the years ahead, according to Thodey.

It is uncertain at this time if the Australian government will allow Telstra to take part in the huge national broadband network in the country dubbed Canberra, which cost about A$43 billion. The other option would be Telstra would have to compete with the initiative.

That led to questions about the role of government in Australian business.

Thodey said his purpose is to "create wealth for shareholders," and so that will obviously clash with the government at times, which while he respects their role, does disagree many times, and will tell them privately, and afterwards state it publicly.

Thodey does believe it is in the best interests of Australia and its government to have a strong private sector.

It looks like Telstra is in good hands with Thodey at the helm, and in times of tremendous turmoil seems to be the right man at the right place at the right time.



Article by Gary B

The views expressed are the subjective opinion of the article's author and not of FinancialAdvisory.com



Tags: australia business , telecommunications , telstra